Your Life Is Now
by callafallon
Summary: Missing Scene from No Place Like Home. Why did Rum/Belle get married so quickly.


Prince Neal.

Rumplestiltskin closed his eyes and allowed the moment to wash over him. He knew better than anyone the power that names had, especially the name of a royal. In his lifetimes he had seen actually wars fought over the naming of a Prince, the child given the name of a great warrior taken as an insult by the people he had defeated or a family name given to a younger child which brought doubt on the leadership of the elder.

This child, a child of true love, was named after his son.

Except it wasn't. His son was Bae. This boy would be named for Neal, the man that his lost boy had turned himself into in the long life that he spent on his own. It was an honor but also served only to remind him of how he had lost the boy twice.

"Do you want to go see him?" Belle whispered, reaching for his hand.

Rumple shook his head. "I don't want to intrude on the family moment."

"You're part of the family too, you know." He didn't respond and she squeezed the hand she held. "But I wasn't talking about the baby. I wanted to know if you wanted to go see…" Her voice trailed off, but he filled in the words.

"The grave?"

"It's not the right time, is it? I just…hearing his name made me think of him. Of wanting to go and talk to him about everything. I suppose that is silly."

Rumple looked into Belle's blue eyes, still hopeful in spite of everything that she had gone through. He envied her that, the ability to still hope for things. He'd lost his ability to hope for anything when his son had died in his arms. So long wanting only to have Bae back, and then realizing that if they couldn't be together at least Bae could be alive with his family. When he sunk the dagger into his father all he imagined was Bae with the Savior and their son, living because of his sacrifice. Wasn't that what all parents wanted? Their child to be alive and happy even without them.

But Bae was dead. And Neal was now just the name of the Prince of a Kingdom that no longer existed. Belle still had hope, and he still had Belle, but even that didn't fill the emptiness inside.

His throat was too dry to speak, instead he just nodded his head and they snuck out while the rest of the diner cooed over the newest Charming. It was daylight when they'd arrived but now it was dark and surprisingly cold. "Do you mind?" Rumple asked, making a flourish with his arms to indicate magic, Belle agreed and in a cloud of smoke they were in the graveyard, standing in front of Neal Cassidy's tombstone.

Rumple dropped to his knees, the weight of the words engraved in the granite stone pushing him to the ground. He traced his hand over them: Beloved Son.

"Did you do this?" he asks, not able to tear his eyes from the words.

"I didn't know what else to put. We can change it if you want. Something more, something that explains how much he was a hero. How much he cared about his family. I just didn't know what else to say at that moment, other than how much we loved him."

"We?"

It took an effort but Rumple took his eyes off of his son's name to look at Belle. She was crying. He didn't need her to explain, the look in her eyes told him everything. She was crying the tears of a grieving mother. Not even Milah had cried for her boy when she'd run off to leave him. But here was Belle, not even a stepmother, weeping for the child she loved with a mother's heart.

He still couldn't stand up, the weight of the moment not yet lifted, but he reached for her anyway. On his knees in the dirt he reached for Belle's leg and hugged it, his lead resting against her hip. "I want to marry you," he said.

Belle stroked his hair. "I know, Rumple. You've already proposed."

He shook his head. "Now. Tonight. I don't want another day to pass without you being my wife. Being Bae's mother. It's a formality, I know, but these things are important."

Her hand stilled in his hair. Immediately Rumple began to backtrack. "But…it can wait. We can wait. I'm sure you have something grander in mind than whatever wedding we can throw together in the next hour. You'll want something splashy."

Belle pulled on his hair, forcing him to look up at her. "I was engaged before, and there was a giant wedding planned. Synchronized waltzing. Ornate gowns. A wedding feast that lasted three days. I didn't want any of it, especially the groom. All I ever wanted was to marry someone I love. And that's you. And now. I don't want to wait anymore to be together."

Belle seemed to know that he couldn't get up, not yet, and she sank to the ground next to him. He pulled her close, partly for warmth but mostly for strength, as they both cried for the man who had to die for them to be together again. Rumplestiltsikn still grieved, and still felt the emptiness inside that could not be filled with love nor vengeance, but for a moment he felt hope again.


End file.
